Predator In Plain Sight

0:20 Hey, everyone, Welcome back to Exposed Scandalous Files of the Elite. I'm your host, Jim Chapman, and today I am bringing you one of the most infuriating, bizarre, and shocking cases I've ever told. And I know that's saying a lot, but I'm saying it. And this could be a bad teacher's episode, but I'm just going to release it as an Exposed original episode because it goes far beyond this person being a teacher. Now, his name is James Hooker, and he had at least three, in my view, appropriate relationships with young girls that spanned at least twenty five years.

1:06 So we're going to jump right into this one, which really became what I would term as hyper public in twenty twelve when a mother revealed on Facebook that her eighteen year old high school senior daughter was having an affair with her forty one year old teacher. And I said the word of fair intentionally, because this forty one year old teacher he had left his wife of nearly twenty years and their three children, with one of those children being his seventeen year old daughter for this eighteen year old high school senior. His name was James Hooker.

1:53 Not only does he leave his entire family, he moves into a house with this eighteen year year old by the name of Jordan Powers. Now, one thing I am absolutely certain of is that James did not count on the fact that Jordan's mom was one of those mothers like I'm sure most, if not all, of my lesteners are. She's one of those moms that would stop at nothing to expose this guy, regardless of the extent that she had to go to, and that's just what she did. So before we get into a lot of the things she did to expose this, I want to tell you a little about James Hooker. He was born in nineteen seventy and at this time that the relationship became public in twenty twelve, he lived and he taught in Modesto, California.

2:46 He had been a teacher for quite a long time since nineteen ninety eight, So even though he was forty one years old when all this became public, he had taught for nearly twenty years, first at what is known as Davis High School in Modesto, California, and then at James Enoch High School. Now, as I said, he had been married nearly twenty years. He had three children in twenty twelve, and he and his family were very active in his church. And from the outside, this guy appeared very smart, very mature, if you will. He just did not seem like the type of God to be tied up into all of this. So that's a little bit about him. Let's get into the mother in this saga, whose mission, as I said, was to expose all of this and it really made all of the difference in the world. And her name at the time was Tammy Powers, and she brought that pain to this guy so hard, y'all on Facebook in twenty twelve that this story went national and she went through Facebook to do it. And this is twenty twelve, y'all. Facebook was not what it is today, but Misspowers she managed to build quite a following at that time by talking about all this, some ten thousand followers, which today in today's numbers you will really equate that to one hundred thousand followers. Facebook was just not near the size in twenty twelve that it

4:18 is today. So it became so high profile that year that eighteen year old Jordan Powers in the forty one year old James Hooker, they appear on Good Morning America. Hooker admitted to leaving his family because he was quote in love and that he knew the risk. And when asked if something occurred prior to Jordan turning eighteen, both Hooker and Jordan denied it. And he also mentioned that he resigned from the school at the point that he decided to pursue Jordan because of the optics. And he also said that Jordan, this eighteen year old senior, was his best friend in more than just a lover. How sweet and really this was what this initial case totally centered around. She was eighteen years old, so she was a consenting adult at the point that he left his wife.

5:15 But the question here was how long had this relationship been going on? Now? Shortly after that, the couple appeared on what was the biggest show on TV at that time, and that was the Doctor Field Show. And this time someone else appeared on that show as well, Misspowers. Now, y'all know Doctor Field don't play and he brings the receipts right, and here he is calling out some of the questionable statements made by that couple on the show. You started a relationship with her while she was a student of yours. Correct. We were friends and that friendship turned into a little bit more.

5:56 Yes, but you're saying that nothing inappropriate it happened, Nothing that crossed a line or a barrier happened. Until she was eighteen, That is true. Yes, there were no text messages, phone calls, secret meetings, going to hotels, anything of that nature. No, Okay, So up until your birthday was on the fifth of September in twenty eleven, and you say, up until that time, it was just purely teacher student. Correct, Okay? Is that the truth? Yes? Yes, because it doesn't seem to be the truth. And you know, I don't know you can explain this to me because you turned eighteen on September fifth of twenty eleven.

6:41 But on July twenty first of twenty eleven, there are five text messages between you two between two fifty four and two fifty seven pm. On August tenth. There's an incoming call from you at seven thirteen am. On the ninth, there are nine text messages between the two of you between nine to fifty three am and ten oh two am. On Friday the nineteenth, there's a picture video message received by you from Jordan on Saturday the third, there's a text message sent to Jordan at eight thirty pm, and then seven text messages between seven eighteen and nine thirty one. And I've seen the phone records that those things took place.

7:23 So that's not what you just told me. You said up until her birthday, no meetings, no text messages, no going to the hotels, anything of the sort. And I have here twenty two text messages, one picture, video message, and a phone call before her eighteenth birthday. And they were all student teacher text messages. The ones in August or July were just stating that I text him saying I have him as a teacher. I saw my schedule. It was nothing inappropriate, it was nothing along the line took then. I'm just I'm asking because I've raised two kids and I never had this kind of contact going on between a teacher and student. You know, twenty two something text messages, phone calls, pictures.

8:12 What were you talking about school stuff? I mean the ones over summer, like I said, where I have you as a teacher, and the other ones hallaween in August are when schools started just texting him like oh, like I'm going to be late to class because I had his number, because I had him first in the summer school. I mean, he has a lot of students' numbers. It was all school related. I would love to know what y'all's thoughts are on that makes me say hmmm. Now at that point, doctor Field digs a little bit deeper into the relationship, and then he goes backstage because another guest was there and it was none other than Mama Powers herself, and he speaks to her initially back stage, and I want to play you that club.

9:03 You've been watching the show up to this point, right, have any comments or notes on what you've seen so far? Well, yeah, he's contended this whole time that he's had no contact with this kid, you know, as a minor, and that's a lie. Those fun records indicate that he pursued her. Have you talked to her about her relationship with him? Have you said, are you having sex with this man? And if so, what did she say? They both contended it was platonic, that he was a father figure, that it wasn't sexual of nature. She's had a boyfriend up until a month ago, a four year relationship with a boy her age. So I had no indication that this was other than what she said?

9:44 When is your earliest indication that it was a romantic. Relationship, a romantic Not until I knew that they had gone to hotels and actually had sex. I just didn't believe. I didn't believe any of it. And when was that? When did you find out? That was the morning that she moved out. I didn't know. She'll tell you then that she had had sex with him and that it was true. And that did she tell you when? No, she was talking about the hotels and I said, you stayed in hotels with him? And she said I did. And this is while she was a student. This is while she was a student. But after she was eighteen. But after she was eighteen? Okay, And what do you think about your daughter's point of view? She says, No, I'm in love. What you know your daughter? What do you think?

10:29 She's a child. It's a child's perspective. She's in love and next week she could be in love with someone else. I don't think she understands the magnitude of this. Who is my boo? That's James Hooker. He was listed in her phone under my boo, so that other students wouldn't realize they were texting back and forth in class. And your older daughter says that she saw a text message between them in January. I believe it was what did it say, I'll love. You forever, something to the effect that if I can get away, I don't know if I can text you. And she brought it to my attention. I think there's something going on with Jordan and mister Hooker, And I said, I don't think so. You know, he's a church going family man, and I don't think that this is happening.

11:16 Now, tell me about the promise ring that said love Waite that she was wearing over the summer. Well, I didn't physically see it. I didn't see it myself, but her boyfriend said that he would she would take off her promised to ring with him and put this ring on. And she said, my nana, my grandma bought it. I called my mom and said, did you send this kid a ring? She said, I didn't send her a ring. And you think the ring came from him? I do you don't know that. I don't know for a fact. I don't know for a fact, but it was unmentionable that I'm finding stuff out daily. Well, he says that you are very hostile towards him, which I can certainly understand. I am, And that this thing is spiral out of control because you have started a smear campaign. Well it has spiral. It spiraled a lot.

11:57 But I tried civilly administratively, and I was at a point where high emotions create a level of irrationality. Either I go to jail, I get arrested, or I try a different forum. You have said at one point that you wanted to stab him. I did. I did. I said, he's not coming here, You're not going with him. If he comes into my home, I will stab him. And that was, you know, based on emotion, but I felt that way. So your belief just so unclear about this. Your belief is so you think he's violated his duties as an educator and as a teacher. Absolutely, whether she was eighteen or nine, he was.

12:38 In a position of authority. I entrusted him with my child and that's not okay. He knew better, and he was impulsive and selfish, and he's acted upon it. I want to talk with them. I would like to have you there. Are you willing to come out and sit with us and talk about this. I will, I'll come out. So a couple of things. With that last clip that you heard first, I think mom is dead on here, no doubt this girl was being groomed in my mind prior to the age of eighteen, and she handled it the way that I'm sure most would. And again, this guy has a daughter who goes to the same damn school and is seventeen years old, just about the same age as the girl that he has left his whole family for. What is wrong with this guy that he would even look at this newly turned eighteen year old practically the same age as his daughter and be sexually attracted.

13:42 I don't get it. Look I have twenty year old daughters, y'all, and it is the God's honest truth. I can't look at twenty year old's the same way I did fifteen years ago or twenty years ago. I see my daughters now and I see girls that age, and it just looks like my daughter's friend. It just ain't in me. I just don't understand that mentality. It's gross to me. And another thing I found interesting about this episode, Mama powers. I know y'all can't see her when you're listening to this podcast, but I will for sure post a few picks of her on the Patreon mom powers. She looks to be around the same age as this guy. She's probably maybe mid forties something like that, and she is a very attractive woman. And the whole time, I'm thinking, Okay, you got this man sitting across from you, the forty one year old teacher, and the daughter's sitting on the side of him. And if i'm him, I'm looking at the mother. I'm not looking at the daughter. The mother's a smoke show. Quite frankly, just blew my mind that this guy just I can't relate, y'all. It bothered. I don't get the mentality. It's just sick. So this Doctor Phil show airs And that was March thirteenth of twenty twelve, and look, as crazy as it sounds, not only then

15:12 did California not have a law banning student teacher relationships when the student is an eighteen year old high schooler. But even now in twenty twenty five, they still don't have a law, although most other states do, and we've talked about a lot of those on the Bad Teacher series. Now, it was not long later, as a matter of fact, less than a month later, when James Hooker was arrested, but it had nothing to do with his relationship with Jordan Powers. As a matter of fact, it had to do with a relationship that allegedly occurred much much earlier, way back in nineteen ninety eight, when he allegedly committed oral sex on a seventeen year old female student that he was teaching in his early years of teaching. Now, apparently this young lady who chose to identify herself her name was Michelle Miller. She got the courage to do that, to come out and tell her story from watching the Doctor Phil episode and just watched this guy act as if he had never done this stuff before, and he was just a stand up citizen who happened to be in love with this eighteen year old girl and left his wife and his family all because of love. It must have just sickened her, and she came out and she told her story. Well, as you can imagine, this doesn't sit too well with Jordan, his eighteen year old

16:44 current girlfriend at this time, and he calls her after he's arrested from the jail, and according to her, she went on good morning America, and she said that she felt betrayed and that her heart dropped when she found out about this, and that she told him when he called her from the jail, hey, we are done. She also said she regretted the relationship, that she had lost everything for this guy, including her senior year of high school, her friends, and a normal high school experience. However, this guy is such a good manipulator that they did briefly reconcile after that, And on November six of twenty twelve, James Hooker appears for his plea hearing in that case regarding the oral sex back in nineteen ninety eight, and he of course pleaded not guilty, and by his side in that hearing was none other than Jordan Powers. Now I'm going to reference an article quickly, and this is from midb dot com. A former Modesto school teacher appeared in court Tuesday with his teenage girlfriend and pleaded not guilty to an allegation of having a sexual relationship with a seventeen year old girl fourteen years ago. A judge last month ruled that there was enough evidence for James Hooker, now forty two, of Modesto, to stand trial on one

18:17 count of committing oral copulation with a person younger than eighteen, stemming from an alleged incident in the summer of nineteen ninety eight. The alleged victim, now a thirty one year old woman, testified in Hooker's preliminary hearing that the defendant performed oral sex on her at his mother's rural house near Turlock. Tuesday morning, the defendant briefly appeared in the Stanislaus County Superior Court for his arraignment. He arrived at the courthouse with his girlfriend, Jordan Powers. Hooker gained national attention earlier this year when he left his wife and three daughters and quit his job as a business teacher at Hen's High School to move in with Powers, an eighteen year old former student. He has not been charged with any potential misconduct stemming from his relationship with Powers.

19:06 Mary Lynn Belcher, Hooker's defense attorney asked the judge for more time before he schedules a date to start the trial. Hooker said he needs more time to gather enough money to retain his attorney to represent him in that trial. Detectives initially began to investigate Hooker in January after Tammy Powers reported an inappropriate relationship between her daughter and Hooker, who was then a teacher at Knox High School. Jordan Powers moved in with Hooker on February twenty second, the day he resigned from Modesto County Schools. During that investigation, the detectives learned of the alleged victim from nineteen ninety eight. She told police she was involved in a romantic relationship with Hooker that summer after she graduated from high school.

19:51 She testified that she met Hooker at a Future Business Leaders of America conference and he was a business teacher at Davis High. She was a senior at bay Or High. A few weeks after the alleged sexual encounter at her mother's house in August in nineteen ninety eight, Hooker ended the relationship, the woman said. She testified that he told her his wife had discovered an email that revealed the affair. So that case drags out until twenty fourteen. And look this victim, and I'm gonna call her a victim because that is what she was. She had one heck of an attorney that I have talked about before. She was represented by Gloria Alred, who has made a living representing female victims of sexual crimes. So I'm going to reference two articles here. The first is for myb dot com and it covers Michelle Miller speaking out after the sentencing hearing for James Hooker, who, when the dust settled, pleaded no contest to those charges. And then I'm going to quote a statement released by Glory. Gloria Allread in the article reads Michelle Miller's hand quivered as she tightly held a written statement explaining how, at seventeen years old, she became involved in a sexual relationship with a modesto teacher.

21:13 She met Hooker at a Future Business Leaders of America conference. He was then a business teacher at Davis High School. She was a senior at bay Or High Quote. There were no warning signs I could see, Miller said while reading her victim impact statement. James Hooker didn't act like a predator. She said. She suffered from depression, had lost contact with her friends, and her boyfriend had moved two hours away for a job. Miller said she was vulnerable and Hooker took advantage of that vulnerability. Quote. The person responsible is James Hooker, she said. Hooker, now a former teacher was sentenced Wednesday after pleading no contest earlier this week to misdemeanor charges of having oral sex with Miller fifteen years ago. He has been ordered to register as a sex offender for a wife life and served four years of probation. The defendants sat quietly in the courtroom as Miller read her statement. He admitted to performing oral sex on Miller, but Hooker has maintained he did not know she was underage. Bullshit. Leaving court after the sentencing, Hooker's defense attorney, Mary Lynn Belscher told photographers get away from my client and called them rude. She didn't make any comments about the conclusion of the case. Hooker did not make any statements during the hearing or afterward, as he and his nineteen year old girlfriend and former student, Jordan Powers were followed by news cameras out of the courthouse.

22:38 The couple's relationship game national media last year, which prompted Miller to finally tell her style of the story. During an investigation into Hooker's relationship with Powers, detective learned of Miller. She told detectives she had a romantic relationship with Hooker that the summer after she graduated from high school. A few weeks after the sexual encounter at her mother's house near Turlock in August of nineteen ninety eight, Hooker ended the relationship. She testified that Hooker told her his wife had discovered an email that revealed the affair. Miller first learned of Hooker's relationship with another high school student last year when she spotted a link to a news story on a friend's Facebook page. In her victim impact statement, she said she discovered Hooker was not even able to end his marriage with integrity before starting that relationship with another teenager. Quote, I felt instantly sick as I waited for the news article to load. Miller said he had become a repeat offender, and I felt it would not him with Jordan Powers. Miller, now thirty two, read her statement while standing near the jury box in the council table facing the judge. Celebrity attorney Gloria Alred stood by her side. Allread represented Miller and attended Hooker's October preliminary hearing.

23:56 Miller had been identified in court as Jane Doe, but her attorney said her client gave her permission a revealer name to news media gathered outside the courthouse. So now I'm going to get into the statement that Gloria already released regarding the Michelle Miller case. Also very important and it said today James Hooker was sentenced after he entered a plea of no contest to a misdemeanor charge of oral copulation of a minor. I represent the victim in this case, Michelle Miller, who has given me permission to use her name and reveal her identity to the public. Miss Miller is now thirty two years old. She was seventeen when she met James Hooker. He was at the time a business teacher at Davis High School and she was a senior at another high school. But she met him because he was an adult chaperom for her and another student who had been selected to attend a Future Business Leaders of America conference in Florida. At the time, the victim was extremely vulnerable because of the challenges she was facing in her personal lif Mister Hooker, like many sexual predators must have since that vulnerability in taken advantage of it. He began a romantic relationship with Michelle, even though he was still married. Mister Hooker has recently admitted through a stipulation in court in advance of his trial that he did perform oral sex on my client, the victim in this case. Prior to the criminal case, mister Hooker has been on the news last year because of

25:26 his relationship with another high school student, Jordan Powers. Mister Hooker, at the time of the relationship, was still married and was forty one years old. He also appeared on Good Morning America in Doctor Phil which he seemed to revelent it, while the mother of Jordan Powers was visibly upset that mister Hooker, a married man approximately twenty three years older than her daughter, was engaging in a relationship with her daughter. Today, mister Hooker no longer appears to be smiling with about his relationship with another young woman, the victim in this case. Because of courage, mister Hooker was charged with felony oral copulation of a minor under the age of eighteen. It was only on the eve of the trial that the defendant, mister Hooker, entered a plea which is tantamount to a plea of guilty and for which he has been sentenced.

26:16 The sentence includes a requirement that mister Hooker must register as a sex offender, and it places restrictions on his contacts with minors under the age of eighteen. The requirement that mister Hooker must register as a sex offender was extremely important to my client, and because this was a condition of the plea, Michelle has agreed to the plea being offered in lieu of a trial. I am extremely proud of Michelle. She has demonstrated enormous courage in reporting mister Hooker's criminal conduct to law enforcement. She did so because she felt that was her duty to report a crime against a minor. She has paid a high price emotionally for performing her duty. Some people who have no knowledge of what she suffered because of mister Hooker's criminal conduct towards her, have mistakenly criticized her for coming forward. However, she understood that if she had evidence regarding this defendant, she should share it with law enforcement and allow them to determine its value or lack of it in the criminal justice system. Because she has done the right thing, other children will now receive a measure of protection and mister Hooker will be recognized for the predator that he is now. Mister Hooker has been sentenced. Michelle is no longer a victim. She is now empowered and an inspirational survivor.

27:31 I have been honored to have been able to support her in her journey. She has been an inspiration to me and many others who have been the victims of sexual predatory misconduct by adults. And that's Gloria Allred's statement. So at this point in Hooker's life, his eighteen year old girlfriend Jordan Powers Incidentally, she did see the light at some point and she leaves him, and he had already left his first wife of twenty years and three kids to be with her. And he now has a record of no contest to oral sex with a minor. He can't even be around minors as far as a job is concerned. This guy has just made a huge mess of his life. And you would think that will be it right, No way. One thing I can tell you about these type of predators, In my personal opinion, it is never it for them. This is, in my opinion, a sickness that has no cure, and these type of predators never stop. And so it would come to no surprise for me that years later James Hooker would make the national news again when it is discovered the now fifty five year old was discovered to have married an eighteen year old girl by the name of Autumn Rose.

28:58 So prepare yourself because what I'm i about to tell you about it is going to shock you. So allegedly, James Hooker met Onum Rose when she was fifteen years old. And all predators hunt for prey, He's no different. And where do they hunt for their prey? Social media? As I said, she was fifteen years old, she was a middle school student, and allegedly he misrepresented himself to her at the time, basically catfished her, and he told her he was in his early twenties and he worked for the US Postal Service. So there is not much out there on what occurred over the next several years after they met, but it speculated that they started soon having sex after he initiated that initial contact with Autumn. And there's a reason why that speculated with evidence backing it.

30:00 So Autumn turns eighteen and they get married, and this is just in twenty twenty three, a couple of years ago. Well, nothing significant occurs until the following year, when in September of twenty twenty four, Hooker gets arrested on two charges. Now, count one was leude and lascivious acts on a child age fourteen to fifteen, and the other was possession of child pornography. Now, it's reported that a totally different minor contacted police after Hooker said minor pictures of him engaging in sex acts with Autumn Rose when she was fifteen years old. Now, how did police confirm this? Well, they spoke to Autumn Rose, who admitted to the timeframe when these pictures were taken. And so Hooker, James Hooker, finally gets arrested. Autumn Rose is, of course the star witness because she is the only one that could definitively confirm that time frame. Right, Hooker goes to court. He pleads not guilty in an arrayment, of course, because you have nothing to lose when you plead not guilty in an arrayment.

31:21 He makes bell. And here's where everything gets really strange. In late twenty twenty four, there's a hearing because James Hooker files some sort of restraining order against Autumn Rose. Now and said hearing, Autumn Rose tells the judge she was kind of surprised to hear that he even wanted to file a restraining order because she had been asking for a divorce for months. Well, an order is put into place, and somewhere over the preceding month, Hooker and Autumn Rose apparently reconcile, and remember he is the star witness in this case. But the restrainting order at some point apparently gets dropped and they move back in together.

32:11 And a few months pass, and in July of twenty twenty five, Autumn Rose, who at this point is twenty years old, get ready for this, is found dead at the home that she shares with James Hooker. Now, this was just days away from her testimony in James Hooker's trial. So the state at this point they drop the first count, the major count against James Hooker in that indictment, the loot and lascibius acts with a minor because there was no witness now who could verify the age of Autumn Rose at the time that these pictures were taken. Now, the corner in this case finds that the cause of death was alcohol related liver failure. Basically, a twenty year old who drank herself to death just days before her testimony. Man, that just does not sit right with me. The timing is impeccable to me, and it didn't sit right with her family either. And I'm going to reference one more article today and it is where her family spoke out on just that put out by the Modesto b on July eighteenth of twenty twenty five, and it says the death of a twenty year old Turlock woman has forced prosecutors to drop a key charge against James Hooker, the former Modesto teacher and notoriously accused of grooming teenage girls.

33:44 Her family said the decision has left it without justice. On Amrose, the woman at the center of the case, was found dead in early July while under Hooker's care. Authorities initially deemed her des suspicious, but a subsequent au types he ruled it to be health related, likely due to the alcohol related liver failure that according to Stanislaus County Deputy da Ros, had been scheduled to testify this week in a child molestation case against Hooker. Prosecutors say Hooker, now fifty five, began a sexual relationship with her when she was fifteen. The two later married after she turned eighteen, but without her testimony, the district attorney said. Prosecutors didn't have enough evidence to proceed. One of the charges of felony child molestation count was dismissed after her death. Quote.

34:35 We can sometimes go forward without a victim, like in homicide cases, but due to special circumstances in this case, weren't able to do that. Hooker still faces a felony charge for possession of child pornography involving images of Rose as a minor. He is not in custody. In his scheduled to return to court August twenty six. Ros's mother, Marina Goodzala's said that her daughter told her she first met Hooker on social media when she was fifteen. Quote he presented himself as a man in his early twenties who worked for the US Postal Service. I didn't know who he really was until after she turned eighteen, Gonzale said. But by then she was already in deep and if I had pushed her too hard, I was afraid I was going to lose her completely. It wasn't until Gonzales and roses father, Matthew Rose, did their own research they learned the truth. Hooker had made national headlines in twenty twelve after resigning from Enoch High School after his relationship with an eighteen year old student, Jordan Powers, became public. Hooker, then forty one, left his wife and children that lived with Powers. Though no charges were filed in that case, the scandal attracted widespread media attention. According to Gonzalez, Hooker reference Powers to Rose in conversations, comparing the two girls as a way to manipulate and control her. Quote that was his mind game, she said. Rose's family described the relationship as isolating in Coerzo, Her parents said Hooker controlled her internet access and social life, alienating her from family and friends, and kept her under constant watch. Quote when

36:08 the Turlough Police Department says to you, oh, yes, that house is well known to us, that's heartbreaking. Gonzalez said. Something should have been done a long time ago. Both parents say that Rose had no real story of alcohol use and did not like taking medications, which made the cause of death especially hard to accept. Quote she told me he gave her alcohol and that she didn't even like taking aspirin, said Matthew Rose. Quote Now they say she drank herself to death, and I just don't believe that. Prosecutors said investigators found no evidence of foul play. Quote the au types. He showed she died of health related causes.

36:48 Emerson said that's the DA, but Gonzalez isn't convinced. Even if he didn't kill her directly, he let her die. He was her husband, he had a duty of care and he did nothing. Complicating that is a restraining order by Hooker against Rose, stemming from a prior to domestic violence case. Though the order was active earlier this year, court records indicate the two were still living together at the time of her death. Her parents were stunned by the situation, particularly because the order originated under troubling circumstances. According to Matthew, Hooker provoked Autumn Rose into slapping him so he could file the order. Quote he got her to slap him, He said. He used it against her as another way to controller. In at twenty twenty four court hearing, Gonzales recalled her daughter, telling the judge she had been asking Hooker for a divorce from months. Hooker later dropped the restraining order after allegedly contacting Autumn Rose despite claiming to fear for his safety. Gonzalez believes that her daughter was beginning to realize the extent of the abuse she started to see it, her mother said, but then he got back in her head again. Both parents hoped that the criminal case against Hooker would lead to justice and supper. Autumn Rose had given prior statements to police, and her mother assumed that would be enough to move forward.

38:06 Quote when they dropped that charge, I was in shock, Gonzalah said. No one even told us beforehand. I've been at every court hearing Hooker has been at and we weren't even given the basic respect. Onumn Ros's aunt, Mandy Mitchell said, the timing of her death is no coincidence. Quote. The one person who could have put him away forever is dead. She said, how many more little girls have to be ripped of their innocence or even dead before something is done? For now, Roses parents are left with questions and grief in the determination to protect our legacy. I couldn't agree more with that. So, as you can imagine, the media is all over this and the questions regarding her death, the timing of it, all of that. It puts a lot of pressure on the Stanislaus County District Attorney's office and they are kind of forced, in my opinion, to look at this case again. So on November seventeenth of twenty twenty five, just a little over a month from this recording, they announced that after a further review, they are restating that initial first charge against Hooker and in March of twenty twenty six, a hearing will be the first public presentation of evidence to determine if the case proceeds to trial. Deputy District Attorney Harshan Samra declined to detail reinstatement reasons due to the ongoing investigation, but he did urge potential victims to contact authorities have nights of you. He needed the challenge of victimless prosecutions, but

39:39 affirmed sufficient evidence exists and thank the family for the patients, stating justice takes time now. The father, Matthew Rose, said, I'm glad they reinstated the charges. There's a hole in my heart that will never be felled. I miss her terribly. Marine A Gonzalez, her mother, said, it gave me a little bit of hope that what happened Autumn isn't going to be swept aside. Justice for Autumn is what our father and I are fighting for. We feel discussed in sadness, noting the slow legal process James Hooker. Of course, he didn't make any public statement, and he refused to comment when he was approached and asked for a comment. So, as of this recording December twenty ninth, twenty twenty five, the case is on going in Stanislaus County Superior Court.

40:28 Hooker remains out of custody on bond. Now he is facing both reinstated charges, and the next steps include the case management hearing that occurs on February twenty third of twenty twenty six, and then a preliminary examination on March sixteenth of twenty twenty six, where evidence will be presented publicly for the first time. I will definitely keep you updated on all that now. Personally, just my opinion, but I would encourage the family of Autumn to have a private autopsy done. Something just doesn't sit right with me at all regarding the initial corner's findings. Look, people make mistakes.

41:12 It's possible a mistake could have been made here, something could have been missed. A second opinion never hurts, and I know these types of things are very costly, but maybe they can get a go fundme going or something, because there's a lot of eyes on this case, probably a lot of people willing to donate some money to get that done. I would look into that. If the family of Autumn Rose is listening to this, and if you'd like to come on the podcast, I would love to do an interview with you and get your side of this. As for James Hooker, I hope it's as clear to everyone else as it is to me. Just my opinion, but I don't think this guy's ever gonna stop.

41:56 In my view, I think he needs to be locked up and he needs to be dealt with. Just saying my opinion. My opinion only it's for everybody else. Thank you so much for listening. Check out the Patreon Patreon dot com Slash Exposed podcast files, commercial free early releases, bonus episodes, quarterly gifts for our top tier members. I drop all kinds of files and pictures and everything else on that page that you can't get anywhere else. You can actually sign up for as little as two dollars and fifty cents a week, which I hope you find worth the price of admission. I could not do it. I could not do this show without all of my celebrity members. As I lovingly refer to these people, as I couldn't do it without them. The show is just too expensive to run. So thank you so much to all my celebrity members on Patreon, I love you more than you know. And until next time for exposed scandalous files of the elite, I'm your host, Jim Chapman. Much love,